It's a white lie that makes you look less rude for being short. It's annoying to have to fib (and embarrassing if you get caught somehow--of course all of Kevin's friends now know his "secret"). But for someone who gets more than 100 messages per day, this technique may be a matter of survival versus just saving time. Haven't set this up myself yet, but if I wind up at the bottom of another email mountain getting ready for a processing marathon, I just might.

Make sure ALL the reply-to’s are accurate, however: I know people who try and pass off emails as “sent from work” (at 3am or whatnot) when the formation of the reply-to et al clearly indicates it was created outside the system.

Paraphrasing something I heard at a journalism seminar a long time ago: Maybe the Internet needs fewer three-paragraph, formal, businesslike e-mails, and more 1-3 word e-mails, and long, chatty e-mails that go on for pages?